The transnational archival memory of European integration

Abstract

The European Coal and Steel Community established in 1951, the European Atomic Energy Community, and the European Economic Community, both established in 1957, built the roots of the European single market and are direct forerunners of today’s European Union. The vision of a united post-War (Western) Europe went far beyond economic considerations, as can be seen in the preamble of the Rome Treaties with its concept of “ever closer union”. It made the European Union a unique transnational political and cultural phenomenon based on common values and supranational decision-making processes. Archives hold the memory of the multi-levelled European integration process. European integration produced a new model of transnational archives with specific privileges, immunities and working methods. These archives preserve the legal acts, negotiations, correspondence, and documents produced by intergovernmental or nongovernmental European institutions and organisations and make them available to the public. The Historical Archives of the European Union play a central role in transmitting the memory, informing the public and fostering research on these diverse types of archives.